Difficult road ahead for Newburgh Boxing Club, forced to close

Sounds of machines renovating upstairs inside the big red brick building can be heard from the sidewalk. But the door is locked, a slam-shut symbol of what is now the former Newburgh Boxing Club.

KEVIN GLEASON

Sounds of machines renovating upstairs inside the big red brick building can be heard from the sidewalk. But the door is locked, a slam-shut symbol of what is now the former Newburgh Boxing Club.

Former owner Ray Rivera prided himself on the gym's open-door policy. Not everybody would make the Golden Gloves, or even make it into the ring. But kids who wandered off these unforgiving streets had, at minimum, a mind- and body-shaping haven from the powerful lure of gangs, crime and drugs.

Rivera, a boxing trainer whose stable includes unbeaten featherweight pro Luis Orlando DelValle, couldn't dig any deeper into his pocket. He had spent about $80,000 of his own money since opening the gym in 2000. And on July 1, Rivera closed the Newburgh Boxing Club.

"It's helped a lot of kids," says club member Jaime Estrada, who won the Daily News Golden Gloves 123-pound open title in April, just four years after taking up boxing. "It's kept a lot of kids off the street."

It comes at a tenuous time for boxing clubs in the mid-Hudson. On June 1, local trainer Brian Demorest, owner of Demorest Boxing & Fitness in Kingston, died at age 42. Four weeks later, former WBC super lightweight champion Billy Costello, who oversaw workouts at the gym bearing his name inside the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Arts Center less than a mile from Demorest's club, passed away at 55.

"Gym membership will be honored at Kingston Boxing Club of P.A.L. (Police Athletic League)," reads the sign on the door of Demorest Boxing & Fitness, directing folks to the "Billy Costello Gym." Located just 7/10ths of a mile away on the same side of Broadway, Costello's gym has been kept running by five people. One is old friend Al Nace.

"We were dedicated to making it go on when Billy was sick (with cancer)," Nace says. "One thing we didn't want Billy to worry about was the gym."

Nace and fellow volunteers run the gym without the constant strain of funding. The City of Kingston owns the building and incurs the costs, as Nace puts it, "because we are doing something for the city."

Rivera, meantime, has been afforded no such luxury in Newburgh. He hopes to relocate the Newburgh Boxing Club. Rivera has talked to representatives from Safe Harbors of the Hudson, a non-profit organization committed to transforming lives and building communities through housing and the arts in Newburgh, about using some of its space on Broadway. He estimates a 70 percent chance of making it work, and hopes for an October opening. But a familiar hurdle must be cleared. Rivera says about $30,000 would be needed to get the club up and running.

"I think it would be a great spot for us," he says. "But it's the same problems gyms are always having — finances."

The Newburgh Boxing Club appeared to be an ideal fit for the vast Newburgh Armory Unity Center, a community center on South William amid a multi-phase renovation project. The location is accessible for local kids without transportation.

But according to Deirdre Glenn, the Armory's executive director, the space needed to support Rivera's program is about a year away from being ready. Additionally, Glenn said in an email, "We will still need to raise the operating support for heat, light and security, plus boxing's expenses."

There also is the question of whether Rivera and sudden-celebrity Dewey Bozella will team up. Bozella, of Beacon, spent 26 years in prison after twice being wrongfully convicted of murder. He was released from prison in October 2009 and immediately hooked up with Rivera at the Newburgh Boxing Club, conditioning and helping train kids. Bozella's life took another dramatic turn 2 1/2 weeks ago when he accepted the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, an ESPY presented annually to individuals whose contributions transcend sports, on the nationally televised show.

Bozella, once a promising amateur boxer, wants to open a boxing gym. He's made numerous business contacts through the ESPY experience and might be in line to get the necessary financial backing. In his acceptance speech, Bozella talked about his "dream to open my own gym and teach boys and girls the discipline of boxing," and that his "dream now is more urgent than ever. The gym I've been training at in Newburgh, New York, has just been closed."

Actress Demi Moore took to Twitter after the speech: "The true hero of tonight's Espy awards Dewey Bozella. pls send me any info on how 2 keep his dream alive of having his boxing studio 4 kids."

Bozella has been tight-lipped about his plans, and even Rivera is unsure if he factors into the equation. The marriage would seem to be a natural, and Rivera is open to working with Bozella. But Rivera wants to make one thing clear: He will re-open the Newburgh Boxing Club, whether he's aligned with Bozella or not.

The question is when Rivera and/or Bozella will be able to accomplish the undertaking. While some kids have used American Self-Defense & Fitness in Monroe since the NBC closed, Rivera figures at least 30 others have been unable to commute there because of a lack of transportation. Rivera has stayed in touch with many former Newburgh club members, hosting pool parties and cookouts at his Town of Newburgh home. But he worries that some will replace the void once filled by boxing with less healthy activities.

Freshly spray-painted gang markings dot the front of what was once the Newburgh Boxing Club. Rivera has been told a church will occupy the building. For now, it represents another vacant building in Newburgh, and a lethal uppercut to kids searching for a future.